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I said at the beginning of the season that Luck was already the top AFC South quarterback, I still believe that.

Interesting tidbit from the IndyStar:

Through two games, rookie quarterback Andrew Luck has had three meaningful two-minute drive opportunities.
He took the Colts 58 yards in 51 seconds at the end of the first half of their opener at Chicago. He hustled them 64 yards in 64 seconds at the same point of the game Sunday, and he directed them 45 yards in 19 seconds to set up Vinatieri's game-winning field goal.
Luck was a collective 10-for-14 for 153 yards and one touchdown on those series.

That's his first two games ever, folks. That's the stuff to look for, right there. It's why he's still head and shoulders above this draft class, and above the last 10 draft classes. For a rookie to have 3 2-min drives in his first two games ever, and perform like that.... whoo-boy, that's some eye-opening stuff. And you all saw how he did it --- with some amazing throws and roll-outs and escaping of pressure. He's built for pressure and just gets better the tougher the situation.

Re: Luck after 2 weeks

I wanted to repost this video of week 2 highlights and go over what I'm seeing from Luck:

First, it's funny to note that the picture above before you start the video shows Manning running the Indy offense. /shrug On to Luck:

:12 - We have a pocket, folks. And Luck throws a deep, accurate long-ball. Already showing an adjustment from game 1 when he was under-estimating NFL speed.
:22 - Hammers a short throw in between 3 defenders right into Allen's chest. One could argue that he waited a second too long, but the fact he had 3 defenders standing there staring at him and he was still able to get that pass in there is a result of Luck using his eyes to throw off defenders and then making a strong throw. It was a Peyton-esque throw and one you don't see too many, if any, rookies making.
:40 - Pocket. Again we have a pocket. Luck stands strong and delivers another Peyton-esque throw to Reggie for a crucial gain.
:50 - Pocket collapses *somewhat*, forcing Luck to move to his right a tad, but then delivers a strike down the middle of the field for a TD in between 3 confused defenders. 40 yards in the air, didn't even really look like he threw it hard.
1:45 - The one bad play for Luck all day, he tried to escape a sack and took a 22-yard loss.... happens. In fact, this loss of yardage may have *helped* us, inadvertently, more on that later.***
2:25 - This is where the magic happens. Look at Luck on the sidelines, firing up his troops, love the leadership.
2:30 - Pocket collapses, Luck rolls out and delivers a blistering... I mean blistering strike in between 3 defenders on a full-out left sprint. He's right-handed. He ran left. That ball has to be going damn near 100 mph. Two of the defenders were within 5 feet of the trajectory of the pass and didn't even react until after the ball was past them. It was a man throw. I only know 1 guy in the NFL making a similar throw --- Aaron Rodgers. Only Rodgers wasn't doing that until he was 25 years old and 4 years into his career. Luck did it at age 23, in his 2nd game. Ridiculous play and throw.
2:40 - Stands strong in a somewhat contained pocket and delivers another Peyton-like throw to Reggie for another 20.
2:50 - Yet again Peyton-like, hits Donnie Avery for another gain.

Some points from those highlights:
1) Luck had some pockets to throw from in this game. It wasn't like the Bears game. We could argue that Chicago's pressure is better, but Minny has some guys on that d-line, namely Jared Allen. Our pass protection made a jump forward in Week 2, even if not a monumental jump forward. But it was a jump forward.
2) His composure and execution of the 2-min drill is just ridiculous for a guy in his 2nd game. You don't see any other rookie doing that on a regular basis, and he's done it *every* time. It also gives me great hope for our no-huddle, once the rest of the team catches up to Luck. We have the guy behind center capable of doing it.
3) His throws were more accurate and tight, especially deep. He's making the mental change to adjust to NFL speed in his 2nd game.
4) Our offense was put into "do nothing" mode for most of the 2nd half -- Luck's numbers likely would have been a lot higher had they let him loose.
5) His recognition of pocket pressure was nothing short of uncanny. In fact there were probly 5-6 occasions when a defender was closing on him and I was cringing in anticipation of the sack, and Luck all of a sudden, without even turning his head, just takes off and leaves them grasping for air. He was extremely successful at this, with the one exception being the 22-yard loss.
6) Clock-management. You will usually see a rookie in his 2nd game displaying confusion and a uncertainty --- Luck showed no confusion, managed the clock beautifully, moved the ball expertly. The only ugly play was the dead-ball spike, but after the game he explained what happened and it made sense why they did it. He's already showing veteran management of the clock, however.

***The 22-yard sack may have helped us. It put Minny that much closer to their own endzone, therefore allowing them to score with more time remaining on the clock, assuming they were going to score anyway. Instead of them scoring their TD with little time on the clock, they scored with 35ish seconds on the clock, and gave Indy :30 to do something. Almost everyone except Andrew Luck thought we were heading to OT.

Last edited by Kid Minneapolis; 09-18-2012 at 01:16 PM.

There are two types of quarterbacks in the league: Those whom over time, the league figures out ... and those who figure out the league.

Re: Luck after 2 weeks

RG3 and Luck are #2 and #3 in the league after two weeks in QBR. Additionally, if you sort by weekly, you'll see that Luck had a tremendous QBR in week 2. It was the 3rd highest of the season. His went up in week 2, RG3s went down.

QBR is an interesting measure... I don't normally marry myself too much to stats, but it has an 86% win rate when comparing two teams QBR. That's sorta kinda impressive. Just going off that metric, Luck has a 81.9 QBR and Gabbert has a 39.8 QBR, which, if we say the higher QBR has an 86% chance of winning, says we have a decent chance of winning this game this Sunday.

Last edited by Kid Minneapolis; 09-18-2012 at 11:22 PM.

There are two types of quarterbacks in the league: Those whom over time, the league figures out ... and those who figure out the league.

The Following User Says Thank You to Kid Minneapolis For This Useful Post:

Re: Luck after 2 weeks

I've seen the no huddle mentioned a few times... Are we going to be a no huddle team in the future? Is that part of the plan to carry on the tradition of the Indy No Huddle Offense.... or are we talking just as a change of pace type thing and not something used heavily as before?

Has the team brass made some statement about this?

Nuntius was right for a while. I was wrong for a while. But ultimately I was right and Frank Vogel has been let go.

------

"A player who makes a team great is more valuable than a great player. Losing yourself in the group, for the good of the group, thatís teamwork."

Re: Luck after 2 weeks

I've seen the no huddle mentioned a few times... Are we going to be a no huddle team in the future? Is that part of the plan to carry on the tradition of the Indy No Huddle Offense.... or are we talking just as a change of pace type thing and not something used heavily as before?

Has the team brass made some statement about this?

I hope that at least Luck starts calling his own plays like Manning in the near future - Fans are still trained to shut up during offensive drives at Lucas Oil, and it'd be a shame to waste all that silence.

Re: Luck after 2 weeks

Re: Luck after 2 weeks

I don't think they've made any official statements, it's just generally widely considered a good thing to try to implement these days if you have a quarterback that can handle it, which... we clearly do.

There are two types of quarterbacks in the league: Those whom over time, the league figures out ... and those who figure out the league.

Re: Luck after 2 weeks

I've seen the no huddle mentioned a few times... Are we going to be a no huddle team in the future? Is that part of the plan to carry on the tradition of the Indy No Huddle Offense.... or are we talking just as a change of pace type thing and not something used heavily as before?

Has the team brass made some statement about this?

I believe they will use it as a change of pace but won't run it 90% of the time like the Colts use to.

My concern isn't with Luck running the offense in a 2 minute drill its everyone else especially with a banged up offensive line and rookie WR's/TE's.

Maybe we should wait a few more games (seasons maybe ??) and then talk about this.

With ESPN and shows like FirstTake, we are so quick to make judgements on players so quickly. As colts fan's we want to see so much greatness in Luck that I fear we'll get overly excited over his positives and overlook the negatives. Let's wait and see how (if) he improves and develops as the season progresses. That's all any of us can realistically hope for.

But to ask a rookie QB to run a no huddle offense the majority of the offensive snaps, with a pretty bad offensive line, is just not realistic. Could he do it? Yeah maybe he can be successful for a few drives. But that's also putting a lot of pressure on a guy that just turned 23 years old. (especially for a guy that's replacing a legend in Peyton Manning)

Has Luck impressed the first two games, yes he has. But that's why he was the number one pick, because he is very talented. But lets hold off on anointing him the second coming until he gets acclimated to the league, and begins making some plays against GOOD teams and GOOD defenses.

Re: Luck so far

Line: Opened Colts minus-3, currently the sameSharp says: "If you had to name the top 3 teams in explosive passing offenses this season, no one likely would have the Indianapolis Colts. Surprisingly, their 11 receptions of 20+ yards and one reception of 40+ put them tied with Baltimore, Detroit and Philadelphia as most explosive passing offenses so far this season. And perhaps as a result of that aggressiveness, their opponents have been called for the fourth most penalty yardage of any team in the league.

Meanwhile, they have been called for just 70 total yards in penalties, third fewest in the league. The net difference, therefore, in the Colts' favor are No. 1 in the league.

There are two types of quarterbacks in the league: Those whom over time, the league figures out ... and those who figure out the league.

Re: Luck so far

Honestly, he's going to be a monster by next year IMO. I'll admit I was always cautiously optimistic about him, and I even still think RGIII may have the higher ceiling, but Luck just "gets it". I don't even know how to explain it. He has that vibe to him that all great athletes have. I mean already thought by week 3 of his rookie year that he would put us in a position to win. Which says a lot considering how bad the rest of the team is. The one thing that has baffled me more than anything though is this, why did Stanford even bother running the ball.